Monza European F3: Ferrari protege Marciello wins truncated race three
Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello took his second win of the opening round of the Formula 3 European Championship at Monza in a race that disappointingly featured just five racing laps
The race started under the safety car due to constant rain on the Italian track, and when it went green Marciello's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes instantly pulled an advantage over the Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Merc of Pascal Wehrlein.
The duo pulled away from third-placed Alex Lynn's Prema car at an extraordinary rate, but a spate of accidents resulted in the reappearance of the safety car.
With the rain increasing in intensity, the decision was made with just under nine minutes remaining to red-flag the race, and half-points have been awarded.
"It was very difficult because Pascal was very fast and I had to push a lot," said Marciello. "It was very easy to make a mistake."
Lynn's podium position was never under threat from Prema team-mate Lucas Auer, who was able to keep at bay the Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes of Pipo Derani.
Right behind the Brazilian were UK drivers Harry Tincknell (Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen) and Will Buller (T-Sport Dallara-Nissan), who both made up ground on the first lap of racing.
Prema's Eddie Cheever was eighth, ahead of Carlin man Jordan King and the EuroInternational Dallara-Mercedes of Tom Blomqvist.
Numerous incidents kicked off in the midfield, with Sven Muller hitting Nicholas Latifi at the Roggia chicane and putting the Canadian out, Lucas Wolf crashing, and Mitchell Gilbert and Andre Rudersdorf tangling on the approach to Parabolica. These stranded competitors brought out the safety car before the race was terminated.
Britons Josh Hill and Jann Mardenborough finished 12th and 14th respectively.
Results - 8 laps (red flag): Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 20m05.546s 2. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc + 2.182s 3. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc + 8.455s 4. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc + 18.823s 5. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 21.508s 6. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 23.935s 7. Will Buller T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 29.684s 8. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc + 32.987s 9. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW + 37.723s 10. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc + 39.326s 11. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc + 40.935s 12. Josh Hill Fortec Dallara-Merc + 42.195s 13. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc + 42.927s 14. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW + 47.397s 15. Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW + 50.322s 16. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 51.624s 17. Gary Thompson Ferraris Dallara-Merc + 55.293s 18. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc + 1m03.648s 19. Dmitry Suranovich Fortec Dallara-Merc + 1m08.533s 20. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 1m19.308s 21. Michela Cerruti Ferraris Dallara-Merc + 1m21.158s 22. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc + 1m29.124s Retirements: Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc 7 laps Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW 7 laps Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 6 laps Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW 6 laps Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 6 laps Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc 5 laps Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 4 laps Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW DNS
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